Sucked into a game
by RegularHaloPeeps
Summary: Staying up past her bedtime finishing her drawing of her idol, Garrus Vakerian. Susan finds herself and her sister, Lorrel, have been pulled out of the world as we know it, and pulled into the Mass Effect universe as Commander Shepard. Spans threw ME1,2,and 3. Self insert. Reviews help. Chap, wow, 12 now, is up!
1. New Beginings

**Hey guys, I must say I'm pretty proud of my self for righting all this. it was 9 pages on my computer. 3,756 words. And I just wana say thanks to roseflorintine and Raven R for helping me with this. THANKS GUYS!**

**Note! This will be the only disclaimer for the entire story, cuse I am lazy!  
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**I DO NOT OWN MASS EFFECT! IF I DID YOU WOULD BE ABLE TO ROMANCE GARRUS IN THE FIRST GAME!**

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"Ugh!" I yawned, taking a look at my clock. The bright lights stunned me for a moment, but my eyes soon adjusted. 3 o'clock in the morning. I knew I shouldn't have stayed up so late to finish my picture of Garrus. But I knew I wouldn't regret it.

I had just finished playing the Mass Effect series for the sixth time that night, finishing Varity, my neutral engineer. I only had three characters: Amanda, a paragontal female soldier that had romanced Liara, Ace, a male renegade sentinel that romanced Ashley twice and Miranda once, and Varity, female, staying single. She preferred to keep to herself. And I was already planning a fourth one.

Susan. I was going to name her after myself. With my mostly paragon infiltrator, and Garrus, only Garrus, by my side, I would prevail. And with this final thought, I was gently lulled to sleep.

"Commander, we have arrived at Eden Prime."  
"Yes, alright, I'm coming." I mumbled back sleepily. I never was much of a morning person.  
"Captain Anderson would also like to talk to you before we go down ma'am." That caused me to shoot out of bed, wide awake.  
"J-J-Joker?" I stuttered out. I thought the voice had been familiar! "Tell Captain Anderson I'll be up shortly." I was going to need a few minutes to gather my thoughts.  
I got up briskly, and looked in the mirror. I looked mostly the same, with shoulder length blond hair that curled ever so slightly at the bottom and my stormy blue eyes. However, I looked a great deal older, late twenties maybe, a scar here and there, and didn't have my glasses on. Huh, I had forgotten how good it felt to have 20/20 vision.  
After that, I suppose I needed a shower. It helps me relax enough to mull things over. Plus, I felt a bit nasty, but it was mostly the need to sort things out. I especially needed to know the vital things, like where on Earth I was and what the heck was going on. The clues I had were almost useless; Joker on the intercom, calling me Commander, and mentioning Captain Anderson. But if that's all true…No, it can't be, I must be dreaming.  
I gave myself a healthy smack on the shoulder, convinced that I would jolt up in bed and all would be right again. WACK! Ow, alright, not dreaming, that's for sure. I rubbed my shoulder, wincing a bit. No, no, no…I sink down to the edge of the porcelain and broke down then and there. I was trembling like a leaf, and sweat slicked my forehead and hands. I can't be in Mass Effect, it just can't be. It's impossible. But some evidence was proving me wrong.  
[Um, yes, you can, and you're not me.]  
~Or me!~

(Ace?)

[Here, silly. Are you stupid?]

(Amanda?)

~Here!~

(Varity?)

{Yup.}  
(Great, I'm Commander Shepard and all my past Shepards are in my head! And what am I supposed to do anyways?)  
[Well, you might wanna try doing this thing civilized people call showering, and scrub yourself good. And then, you can put on these things called clothes.]  
I sighed heavily, stepping into the shower and collecting myself, that's Ace for you; unfailingly blunt and straight-forward. Unless, of course, he was around Ashley or that Cerberus cheerleader, Miranda. Thankfully, she didn't come along for two or three years.  
He was right though. The longer I spent in here, more questions would be asked.

My hair was still slightly wet from my shower when I went down to intercept Joker at his station, finding him chatting it up with Kaidan, "I hate that guy" he commented as Nihlus walked away, after saying that he was pleased about our drift speed.  
"He gave you a compliment… so you hate him?"  
"Remember to zip up your jumpsuit on your way out the bathroom? That's good. I just jumped us half way across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible! Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having them on board. Call me paranoid."  
"You're paranoid. The Council helped fund this project. They have a right to have someone keep an eye on their investment."  
"Yeah, that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story."  
"Er, sorry to interrupt the party, but where's Captain Anderson?" I butted in. Normally I would know where he was, but it had been a while since I had played the first Mass Effect.  
"Comm room. Your sister passed by a while ago, and headed that way."  
The words took a second to process. My big sister, Lorrel, here. Stuck with me in this unforgiving role of saviour? I ran to the comm room, as fast as I could. I opened the door to the comm room, and the sight of my sister, with her red hair and piercing green eyes, standing there talking to Nihlus… It took all of my will power not to run over, embrace her and then start sobbing into her shoulder.  
"Sis," I managed to say, struggling to keep my voice in check. Trying to keep it that way I nodded and decided to try to keep my answers short, just giving Lorrel a confused look for half a second as I walked down to join them. She replied back with the quick look that anyone else would mistake for a glare, meaning we'll talk later.  
"Ah, Susan, finally decided to show up?" What the heck? You are never called by your first name in the games. What's Nihlus doing…,"Ah no matter, we are still waiting on- Ah, here he is. Captain Anderson."  
Anderson walked briskly down the walkway. He was most definitely hiding something, "It's time we told the Commanders what's really going on."  
"What's going on here…" I growled, backing up so my shoulder blades were touching Lorrel's.  
"This mission is far more than a simple shakedown run."  
"Ha, half the crew already knew that." Lorrel snapped back at Nihlus.  
"We're making a covert pickup on Eden Prime. That's why we needed the stealth systems operational."  
"What are we picking up? I have a line for everything." Lorrel gave me the most hideous scowl you will ever see, for that one. Anderson and Nihlus just looked unamused, "What?"  
Captain Anderson shook his head and sighed, "You'll be picking up a Prothean beacon. A research team unearthed it during an excavation. This is big. Last time we made a discovery like this it jumped our technology forward two hundred years. But the facilities on Eden Prime don't have the resources to handle this. We need to bring it back to the Citadel for proper study."  
"Obviously this goes beyond human interests. This discovery could affect every species in Council space."  
"Let me guess… Does the next sentence start with, 'but wait there's more!'?" Another death stare. This is goanna kill me some day.  
Anderson groaned again, "Sadly, yes. Nihlus is here to evaluate you. The Alliance has been pushing for a larger part in shaping intergalactic policy. We want more say with the Citadel council. The Spectres represent the council's power and authority. If they accept a human into their ranks, it shows how far the Alliance has come."  
"You two held off an assault during the Blitz single handed. It showed not only your courage, but also incredible skill. That's why I put your names forward as candidates for the Spectres. I need to see your skills for myself. Eden Prime will be the first of many missions together."  
"You two will be in charge of the ground team. Get to the beacon and get it back to the ship ASAP."  
"Ready and able sir." Lorrel and I both snapped to attention.  
"We should be getting close to Eden-"  
"Captain! We got a problem."  
"What's wrong, Joker?"  
"Transmission from Eden Prime, sir. You better see this!"  
"Bring it up on screen."  
There was a moment of silence as Joker brought up the vid.

The vid, it-it was horrible. Marines where fighting, dying, losing to…Something. The cameraman was letting his camera fly around, out of just plain fear or he was trying to capture the whole thing, I couldn't tell. Ashley, thank god I could at least recognize her, rushed over, tackled the camera man and told him to stay down.  
[ASH! I'll save you!]

(…*sigh*…)

"We are under attack!" Another marine, not Ash this time, but a male marine. Probably one in Ashley's unit, the 212, "Taking heavy casualties. I repeat: heavy casualties! We can't…argh!…-eed evac! They came out of nowhere. We need-" the man was suddenly jerked back, again by what I couldn't tell. Then they stopped. All the marines just stopped fighting, a couple had their mouths open in awe. The cameraman, supposedly noticing it also, turned to show us what the troops were looking at.  
It was most likely a ship, but it was horrid looking, like a giant squid coming down latching on to something. The vid suddenly became static, signifying that it had been cut off.  
"Everything cuts out after that," Joker came over the intercom again, "No comm traffic at all. Just goes dead. There's nothing."  
"Reverse and hold at 38.5" Anderson barks the order. I wonder how long he's been doing this…  
The picture in the vid of the crazy ship pops up again. Nihlus' mandibles twitch for a moment, signifying he's worried. Anderson barks another order out, asking for a status report. "Seventeen minutes out, sir. No other Alliance ships in the area." Joker complies.  
There's a short pause, "Take us in, Joker. Fast and quiet."  
After gathering up our biotic friend, Lt Kaidan Alenko, and our rooky Jenkins, we all land safely at our drop point. But things… were just heating up.

After a short walk up the trail to the dig site, I thought I saw some movement up ahead, "My spider senses are tingling…" I said under my breath. For once Lorrel actually laughed, but it was quickly replaced by her usual scowl as she instructed Alenko and Jenkins to scout ahead. The two moved forward as if dancing. Alenko, Jenkins, Alenko… Jenkins' corpse.  
Two geth recon drones appeared out of nowhere and shot at Jenkins as he moved forward, ripping straight through his shields, instantly killing him, "Jenkins!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, half hoping it would reach him in time. I- I never could get used to watching this scene.  
Quick as lightning I tore out a pistol and shot at the nearest drone, hitting my mark, causing it to explode. Lorrel shot her arm up, glowing with biotics, and threw the other into the wall of rock beside us, crushing it.  
With a quick check on our HUD's, we secured the area and walked over to Jenkins' dead body. "Ripped right through his shields, he never had a chance." Kaidan acknowledged.  
"Do you think I care Lt! Come on we need to be at the dig site today!" Lorrel screamed at him. Alenko seemed shocked that she had snapped at him, you could tell from his glances back at her. Once Kaidan had walked away, she slithered to a rock, sunk to her knees and cried. Even though she can be a jerk, I could've told you she was about to cry.  
Being the good sister, I walked over and sat down next to her, "It wasn't your fault he died, you know."  
"Pfft, now you're starting to sound like Kaidan," she half-heartedly laughed.  
"Call me Kaidan all you want, I'm not the biotic," I joked playfully, "But then… What am I?" My tone dropped to a sad whisper.  
"Well if you're not a biotic that takes Adept, Vanguard, and Sentinel out of it and from the way you hit that thing right on mark, I'd say that you are an Infiltrator, big sis!" Now would be a good time to say that she and I are technically twins, but even though we look nothing alike and I was a couple seconds older than her, Lorrel was always faster, taller and stronger, so I always considered her older.  
"Now the problem if figuring out which you are, Adept, Vanguard, or Sentinel. Hum… I have an idea but we'll have to wait till we're back on the ship, OK?" Now seemingly fine, Lorrel stood up and gave me a slight nod.  
As we slowly walked up to the top of the rise, chatting all the way up, "You better brace yourself sis,"  
I stopped and gave her the most confused look I could muster, "Wha?"  
"This morning...Well, you remember how I had one of my characters drool over Joker? That...kinda backfired."  
"They're in your head too?"  
"Yeah, and Vanille…I think she took control of me."  
"What?" I choked on the air around me, of shock.  
"Ash is coming up and from the way you sighed of frustration earlier, Ace is going to go berserk. And next thing you know you'll be kissing Ash and that would be REALLY awkward. So I suggest that if you want to avoid that, you talk to Ace."  
I acknowledged her with a nod and sunk into that state where nothing in the world mattered, but what I was focusing on.

(ACE!)

[What do you want?]

(AMANDA!)

~Yes?~  
(Promise me that neither of you will take over my body nor start flirting with anyone!)  
[Aw… Fine]  
~Got it!~  
(Good, I'm glad we got that-)  
[What do we get in return?]  
(What? I don't know? Look, Varity's over there, go see if you can coax her out of her shell)

[Fine.]

Coming back to the real world, I took a huge gulp of air and stood up, "I'm ready."  
"Good, I was getting tired of waiting here. Move Out!"  
Weapons drawn, we walked a short up the trail and could see Ashley take out two drones with as much precision as I had the one earlier. A ways up the trail there were two geth troopers that stuck a man, still alive at the time on a fast rising spike. Horrified by the spike Ashley hid behind cover and drew her assault rifle. As the troopers stepped closer, we quickly decided it was time to step in.  
A quick shot at one left it to rust, Lorrel crushing the other just as fast with her biotics. Ash was shocked for a moment, trying to figure out who helped her. Seeing us, she jogged over, "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You guys the ones in charge here?"  
"Are you okay Williams?" I knew she was but I had to ask.  
"Scrapes and burns, nothing bad, but the others weren't so lucky," her look of relief rapidly turned to one of sadness as she remembered her entire unit being wiped out by the geth.  
I paused for a moment out of respect, "I don't know if it'll make you feel better, but how'd you like to be part of a team again?"  
Her eyes lit up and regained their twinkle at that I love about her, "Payback time."  
After out futile walk to the dig site we went up a path to our right and into the camp. I knew the spikes here had enough time to turn their victims into husks. They slid down letting them free, head shot, crush, fire. I hit the first one, still startled by my accuracy, Lorrel crushed the second bioticly and Ash and Kaidan got the last.  
"Look!" Ash exclaimed as she saw the shed the scientist were hiding in, "That door, its closed. Security lock engaged."  
We walked over to the door, "Do the honors?" Lorrel smiled. Sigh, good thing I'm the techy one.

After our chat with the scientists (which included Lorrel 'putting Manuel to sleep'), we headed down to the space port, cleared the area there and headed to the farmers shed. After hacking the door the farmers came out, "Everybody stay calm out there. We're coming out, and we're not armed."  
"Is it safe, are they gone?" Said a panicked female farmer.  
"You're safe," I confirmed.  
"Thank goodness."  
"Here take this as thanks." Said the one named Cole as he handed us a pistol.  
"This was all you have! Give me one reason not to shoot you right now!" Lorrel fumed, taking the pistol out of my hand and pointing it at him.  
"Alright! I have one more thing! Here, you can take it!"  
"Thank you," she gloated as he handed it to her, "Here," she said throwing the pistol to me, walking over to the port.

Better follow suit. I sighed and jogging after her.  
Reaching the spaceport we were met with an unwelcome sight, there was a dead turian on the ground. Stepping closer, our fears were confirmed, "Commander? It's Nihlus."  
"I saw what happened to your friend. The other one shot him," A man popped up from behind the crates. It seemed to startle Ash and Kaidan, but Lorrel and I were fine, "The other one, Saren he called him, got here first. I think they were friends. Your friend seamed to relax, let his guard down. Then Saren shot him, right in the back. He jumped on the cargo train to the other platform, probably going after the beacon."  
"Thanks for the info," Lorrel nodded, then barked out a command, "Move out!"

Arriving at the other platform, we were met with a nasty surprise, "Demolition charges! The geth must have planted them," I sighed as Kaidan stated the obvious. I kneeled down to deactivate the charge in front of us while I gave orders to the others.  
"We'll cover more ground if we split up to disable the charges. Williams, you'll protect me while I disable the charges. Alenko, sis, same goes for you two. Kaidan can disable the charges while you protect him" I stood up, done with the charge, "Move out!"  
Ash and I made a mad dash for our charge, taking a few geth down on the way. Grabbing some cover, I knelt down for the next charge, taking a quick glance to see how my sister was doing with Kaidan.  
I must say I was impressed. She was dodging their attacks, left and right, as well as throwing some of her own. Throwing both her arms out in front of her she lunched one massive biotic throw taking out, one, two, three, all the remaining geth troopers between us.  
My jaw hit the ground and I almost didn't hear the beep of my Omni-tool telling me the final bomb was disarmed. Ash and Kaidan seemed shocked as well from this action, "In all my years as a biotic, I've never seen anyone who could do something like that," Kaidan said, still in awe.  
"Come on," Lorrel grumbled, a little embarrassed, "We need to get to the beacon." She turned and walked down the ramp shotgun raised ready for the geth onslaught that was waiting for us. Or rather should have been waiting for us.  
The quartet yard was empty. Not a single geth or husk to take us down.  
Ah, no matter, the beacon is what's important here, "Normandy, the beacon is secure. Requesting immediate evac," finishing the request we turned around as Ash came over, saying she secured the area. Just behind her Kaidan was off getting sucked into the Prothean beacon. Lorrel and I both made a mad dash over to him and tackled Kaidan out of the way, trapping us both in the field.  
I would have loved to push my sister out of the way at that moment, knowing the pain that would come with this knowledge.  
We were pulled into the air as the horrid vision of the Reapers butchering the Protheans filled our minds… An entire race, killed by the Reapers, and who knows how many more. As the vision left my mind as the beacon exploded, throwing us back onto the hard, steel surface knocking us both out.**  
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**Well that's just the beginning I'll post the next chapter next week (or sooner depending on how nice I feel.)I will try to address all the reviews you guys give me.  
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**Regularhalopeps is out! PEACE!  
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	2. GARRUS!

**I was gonna wait till I got 5 reviews, but, eh. You will have to wait for chap 3 (I'm not done yet)**

**Enjoy!  
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Coming to my senses I could hear Kaidan's voice, "Dr? Dr. Chackwas? I thing think they're waking up." I threw my legs over the side of the metal bed I was laying on. God I felt terrible. If I drank alcohol, I could describe it as the worst hangover ever.  
Putting a hand on my head to relieve the throbbing, an older lady, with roughly the same hair cut as me, just gray, walked over between me and my sister, who was also up, "You two had us worried there. How are you feeling?" Her voice had a slight English accent to it  
"Like I have the worst hangover. Ever." I repeated my thought for good riddance. This gave Kaidan, Chackwas, and yes, even my sister, a small laugh.  
"The beacon exploded," Kaidan voiced. "Knocked you and your sister cold for 15 hours. Williams and I had to carry you two back to the ship."  
Captain Anderson walked through the door at that moment, throwing us all off guard, "How're our XOs holding up, Doctor?"  
"All and all I'd say they'll be fine."  
"Good," he turned to us, "I need to speak with you two-in private" he gave the rest of the life forms in the room a glare. They all nodded in understanding and walked out, leaving us alone in the room.  
"You wanted to talk to us, sir?" Lorrel spoke for the first time science we woke, and I could understand why now. Her voice was hoarse, she must be starving I thought, as I gave her a sympathetic look, she hasn't eaten in more than 15 hours.  
"Things look bad. Nihlus is dead, the beacon was destroyed and the geth are invading. The council will want answers"  
"We did our job." Lorrel growled, still hoarse.  
"I know that commander. But if Saren, that other turian, has gone rogue… well, god help us all" there was a short pause. We knew the story, "We'll need to tell the council about this. We should be getting close. Tell Joker to bring us in when you're ready."  
"Aye, Aye Captain."

_

Walking out of the med bay I noted the layout of the ship had been changed. Instead of the med bay being across the hall from the commanding officer's room, it was in the back behind the sleeper pods. Wanting to know what was in the med bay's old slot I hurried over to check it out.  
It was another bedroom, like Anderson's. Most likely what will be Lorrel or my cabin. Weird I thought then went back to Lorrel.  
After a quick pit stop to the mess, Lorrel and I headed up to the cockpit to see Joker in his chair, "Good timing, commanders," he said, hearing us come up behind him, "I was just about to bring us into the Citadel. See that taxpayer money at work."  
The Citadel was even more spectacular than in the game. It was massive, each of the five arms fifty times bigger than New York City, but with lights just as bright, "Look at the size of that ship!" Ash commented, staring excitedly out of the window.  
"The Ascension. Flagship of the Citadel fleet" Kaidan clarified.  
"Well, size isn't everything."  
"Why so touchy, Joker?" Ash teased  
"I'm just saying you need firepower too."  
"If you love our ship so much why don't you marry it?" Ash teased again. Kaidan and Joker laughed at the insanity of it, while Lorrel and I just looked at each other. Oh, if they only knew.

_

I couldn't hold back my excitement as we docked, not because of how amazing the place was, but because of a certain turian I knew was on board.  
After our first meeting with the council (And with Garrus, where I did nothing but stare dreamily at him and smile... sheesh -o-) We went down to C-Sec to pick up Wrex, since we knew where he was, then B-lined to the med bay to get Garrus.  
Dr. Michel was being held up by some thugs. As soon as the one talking to her saw us they picked her up and used her as a meat shield. Unfortunately he didn't see Garrus until it was too late and he was on the floor, dead. Thinking fast I shot at the other one standing by him and killed the rest by hitting a fire containment system in the back. By the time Kaidan, Ash and Lorrel had drawn their guns, I was already baring down on Garrus, "What the heck where you thinking!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, "You could have hit her!"  
"There wasn't time to think," He countered, "I just reacted! I wasn't -Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"  
"No I'm okay, thanks to you. All of you"  
I sighed a breath of relief, "I'm glad you're okay, but who were those men?"  
"They worked for Fist, they were trying to shut me up about the quarian."  
"Tali," I muttered, all of my anger vanishing, "Where is she now?"  
"With Fist, at Chora's den."  
"To Fist's place it is, then."  
"This is your show, Shepard," Holy crap did he just address me? Not my sister, but ME? "But I wanna bring Saren down as much as you. I'm coming with you!" he grabbed my wrist as I turned around, suddenly to embarrassed to talk to him, "Shepard…" he sighed, his nice two toned sigh.  
Gathering my courage, I turned around and smiled at him, "Welcome aboard, Garrus."  
Apparently having enough of this Lorrel spoke up, "Can you two lovebirds stop cooing at each other and get a move on?" I blushed, and managed a scowl at her before turning my head so Garrus couldn't see me.

_

We took a short trek to Chora's Den. Saren's men were waiting for us, But Garrus and I quickly took them out, "Looks like they shut it down," Lorrel growled as we snuck closer, "They'll be waiting for us."  
"Then be ready for them." I snapped back. Garrus gave me an approving smile as we pulled out our weapons. Noted.  
We all scrambled to find defensive positions, Lorrel and Wrex by the door, ready to charge in, Garrus and I a little ways back on the ramp, sniping.  
Lorrel gave a silent count-down. Three…two… one! The door flew open and the guns were let fly, "Headshot!" Garrus yelled, hitting the first thug by the door's head, killing him. After the first shot was fired, Lorrel and Wrex rushed in and took care of the ones within ten feet of the door, allowing Garrus and I to step closer. With a better view of the battle, I was able to take out the remaining mercs on my side before we moved closer to the backroom.  
We were almost to the back room when a shot rang out, "Garrus!" I squealed as the turian dropped with his blue blood flowing out of the bullet wound his right shoulder. I turned around, infuriated, and shot the man who hit him, right in between the eyes. I turned back to my sister and Wrex, "Do you think you can take care of the quarian?" I asked, "I need to get Garrus to the med bay, ASAP." they nodded.  
I gave my thanks and picked up the injured turian, and made a mad dash for the med bay, "Don't die on me. Don't you dare die on me, Garrus." Reaching the med bay I practically kicked down the door, "Dr. Michel!" Seeing Garrus, she gasped and rushed to get some med-gel from the back.  
As I laid Garrus down on a table, he became briefly conscious, "Shepard?" he sighed out of relief.  
"Shhhh… It's alright," I said sitting down and griping his hand, and fighting back tears, "You're going to be fine."  
As he blacked out again, Dr. Michel appeared and proceeded to take a look at his wound. After she had applied several coats of medi-gel, and was satisfied with her work, she turned to look at me, "You should get some rest."  
"What?" I said not taking my eyes off Garrus.  
"You need sleep." She repeated  
"I'm fine," I insisted, waving her off  
"I know the signs of exhaustion, Shepard."  
I sighed. I hadn't gotten any real sleep since before Eden Prime, "I know, but…" I trailed off searching for a good excuse.  
She giggled for a moment, understanding my real reason, "He cares about you Susan. He sneaks off to watch the vids of you during work, always speaks of you very highly and… well, just listen." she finished pointing at him while he 'slept'.  
"Susan…" I gasped, then turned back to the doctor, "Thank you." I admitted defeat, "I'll get some sleep now, Dr. Michel," I started to lay back in the seat ready to catch forty winks, when she said one last thing.

" Please, call me Chloe." I gave her a wary smile and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

I woke up what felt like two seconds after I had closed my eyes. The room was dark, Chloe must have dimmed the lights for us, but I could still see a glowing purple visor looking at me, "You look calm when you sleep." his two toned voice split the air, "Makes me feel calm too."

I smirked and leaned so I could prop my elbow on the table, "Spying now, are we?" I said teasing him.

"No! I was, um-" he panicked, trying to explain himself

"Relax," I laughed, easing him up a little bit, "I was only kidding." I stopped laughing and moved forward so our faces where nearly an inch apart, "Plus, I think it's cute."

"I've been called a lot of things by your species, Shepard, but cute…that's a knew one." he twitched his mandibles in the turian equivalent of a smile.

"Please call me Susan."

"Alright then, Susan," he leaned in for what would have been a kiss, when Lorrel burst threw the door, Tali right behind her. Garrus and I jerked away as fast as possible, hopping they didn't see us

"Come on you two the Council's awaiting!" she dragged us both outside to the rapid transit. When we where in the car she leaned over and whispered, "Nice job sis." she gave me a knowing smile as I blushed and suddenly found the floor very interesting. Trying to hold back a snicker she pointed over to Tali, "Time to introduce our new friend, Tali!" I knew who she was, but it would be weird if she had heard me say it with out it being told to me, "She had the evidence Wrex told us about. Udina should reply it at the meeting."

Stepping out of the car, we headed up the stairs in the tower, just in time to hear the message, "You wanted proof. There it is." Udina said after the transition was over.

"These evidence is irrefutable, ambassador." the turian councilor agreed, "Saren will be striped of his spectre status immediately."

"I recognize that other voice in the recording. Lady Benezia." the asari councilor chimed in, "In light of you efforts to stop Saren you will go after him."

"No! It is to soon!" the turian argued.

"Send us in." I snapped back.

"We're ready." Lorrel agreed.

It took a moment, but the turian finally agreed. The council punched something into the council in front of them and turned back to us, speaking as one voice, "Commanders Susan and Lorrel Shepard it is the will of the Council that you are granted the powers and privileges of the Special Tactics and Recon branch of the Citidel. Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle, those whose actions elevate them above the rank of battle."

"This is a great accomplishment for your entire species commander. Treat it well. This meeting is adjourned."

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**AAAANNNNDDD... Done.  
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**CommanderHawke667: I'm glad you enjoyed it! And as for Lorrel, well... she is the name one of my friends. They wanted me to call her that, so it's really her choice. And I agree. Liara is very, very, very over done.  
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**Liege Lord: Noted. Changing now. thanks!  
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**RFT: thanks. Don't get snappy though.  
I know it's not long, but there is a fine line between nice and lazy, and lazy  
**

**Regularhalopeps is out! PEACE!  
**


	3. I am lazy

**Hello! I am a lie(like the cake [anyone who gets that needs to PM me])er and I am lazy only 828 words. -_-'  
**

* * *

"How dose it feel to be a Spectre Commander?"

"It feels…Good." I answered Garrus's question, then leaned over to whisper in his ear, "You still owe me a kiss, Garrus."

He laughed then turned to whisper to me, "Try me when we're not on the Citadel."

I stopped walking and pretended to pout, "Fine." then walked to catch up laughing.

"We just got the best slot humanity has to offer and you're acting like a two year olds?" Lorrel sighed angrily as we got into the sky car, "Your kinda ruining the moment."

"Fun killer," I teased.

Once we arrived at the docking bay, Udina had a surprise for us, " Big news. Captain Anderson is stepping down as the CO of the Normandy. This ship is yours now."

"She quick, quiet, and you know the crew," Anderson spoke up for the first time scince we got there, "Perfect ship for a Spectre. Treat her well, ladies." we nodded an acknowledgement to him, "My guess is that the Conduit has something to do with the Protheans. Matriarch Benezia has a daughter who is a Prothean expert, Dr Liara T'Soni. Last reports say she's in the Artemis Tau cluster."

~I'm cool with that.~

(Go away, I'm talking now!)

~Shesh. Sorry.~

By the time I had gotten Amanda to leave me alone, Anderson had already told us about Noveria and Feros. Darn it! With a sympathetic look at Anderson, Lorrel, Tali, Garrus and I all got on the ship, OUR new ship, and after a short tour and goodbye, Lorrel and I headed over to Joker.

"Heard what happened to Captain Anderson. Survives a hundred battles, and then gets taken down by backroom politics. Just watch your back. Things go bad on this mission, you two are next on their chopping block."

"This feels wrong," I say, my voice barely audible, "Captain Anderson should be the one in charge."

"Yea the Captain got ripped off," Thanks Joker. Way to make me feel better, "But it's not like you could have done anything to stop it. Nobody is blaming you two. Everyone on this ship is behind you, 100%. Intercom's open. If you wanna say something, now's your chance."

I waved Lorrel off as she started to move towards the intercom. This one is mine sis, "This is Commander Susan Shepard speaking. We have our orders: stop Saren before he finds the Conduit. I'm not going to lie to you crew. This mission won't be easy. For to long our species has stood apart from the others. Now it's time for us to step up and do our part for the rest of the galaxy! Time to show them what humans are made of! Our enemy knows we're coming. When we go into the Traverse, Saren's followers will be waiting for us. But we'll be ready for them too. Humanity needs to do this. Not for just our own sake, but for every other species in council space. Saren must be stopped, and I promise you all… We will stop him!" I finished proudly.

"Well said, Commander," Joker said approvingly, "Captain would be proud."

"The captain gave up everything so we could have this chance." Lorrel rose to my aid, encouraging me, "We can't fail."

As we turned to walk away, I blushed slightly, noticing that Garrus, Ash, and Wrex had gathered, admiring my speech.

* * *

**Again, I am very nice. no complaining.**

**Liege Lord:Thx again. And about Garrus and I being a little fast paced... what can I say, I'm impatient. the way I played out in my head was somethig like: Garrus admires me. I meet him and do noting but smile like an idiot. He joins us. he gets shot. he sees an opportunity. he takes a chance.I call him cute. and Garrus takes a hint for once, and leans over to kiss me. then we are caught in the act.*mumbles* stupid Lorrel.  
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**may post something tomorrow, but I'm out right now. Reviews make me wright faster! See the little button down there? You can save some kittens if you click it. And get some brownies. Warm brownies.(they also help me spell)  
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**~OMG, MAGIC BROWNIES!~  
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**No Amanda, you cant eat those.  
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**~Why...~  
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**There for the people that review!*turns to you guys*Hurry! Before she eats them all!  
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	4. Memories

**Hi guys! Happy Birthday Rose!  
**

* * *

"Joker! Get us on route to Artemis Tau." Lorrel barked out the order in a practiced manner.  
"Aye aye, ma'am! ETA one hour." One hour? Thank god. I know I just took a nap, but it was a half-hour at most.  
I walked down to the lower deck to see Lorrel stuffing her face in the mess, "Hey," she mumbled focused on her food.  
"Hey," I replied drowsily, "Which one is mine?" I gestured over to our cabins.  
"Fhat one." I sighed as she talked; her mouth was full of food as she pointed over to Anderson's old room.  
"Thanks." Wandering over to my bed, I laid down. Soft. That was the last thing I thought before I fell asleep.

_

Flashback no one's POV  
It was a warm spring day. Four girls were sitting in a tree, two happily reading, one drawing, the other climbing, "Come on guys," the climbing one dropped down, no longer interested in her task, "Why won't you play with me?"  
The one drawing closed her pad and sighed, "You know them, Lorrel. Reading is their passion."  
"But why won't you play then?"  
The other girl flipped through her note pad. The pages had many intricate drawings on them, most video game themed, "Ah ha!" she exclaimed, finding her prize. She turned the pad around, revealing the picture she was working on. It was quite a realistic picture of one of her favorite Mass Effect characters, Tali'Zorah Vas Normandy, which was nearly complete "I'm doing Garrus last," she seemed quite excited, "Tali is the only one left before him."  
"Really, Susan?" The black haired girl that was reading looked up from her book, "You've been working on this project of yours for months, now."  
The light brown haired one sighed, never looking up from her book, "Lay off Rose. You know she'll never back down so close to Garrus."  
Susan quickly became flushed, "Would too, Sarah!"  
"You should," Lorrel put her hand on her sister's shoulder, "You need a break."  
"Get off my case, pal." She whacked her sister's hand off quite frustrated.  
"When was the last time you slept?" Sarah closed her book, then jumped down to where the sisters stood on the ground.  
"It doesn't matter," Susan growled, "I'll be done by tonight."  
"Ha," Rose scoffed, jumping down to the others, "No way you'll get it done by nine."  
"Who said it had to be done by nine?" She smirked.

_

I woke up drenched in sweat. Rose. Sarah. No… I pulled my knees up to my chest. It had been so easy to forget who I was in the heat of battle. My friends, my identity, my past. All of it. The dream… It meant so much to me. It was really a memory more than anything. It was the last day in our world. The last time I saw my friends.  
That just made me break down. I was alone. None of my friends, family, anyone I knew, was alive. It was just me and my sister.  
There was a knock on my door, "Go away." I cried, my voice muffled by my legs.  
Garrus came through the door not really caring about what I had said, "Susan," he said sitting next to me, "What's the matter?"  
I was going to lie and say I missed Jenkins, but the way he looked at me, the care in his eyes… I couldn't lie to him. I sighed in defeat, "Can you keep a secret?" I looked at him, my eyes on the edge of crying again.  
"Anything," he cupped my cheek with is three fingered hand and forced me to look at him.  
I sigh. What I tell him next may make him either think I'm crazy, or he'll believe me, "I- Lorrel and I, we're not- Lorrel and I are really 16 years old. I- we have on real combat experience, except for Eden Prime. I have no clue how I got here, or how to get back." I pause to look at him, expecting him to think I'm crazy. His face gives no sign of this at all, but only urged me to continue, "When I fell asleep, I dreamt of the last time I saw my friends. I- I miss them so much." My voice was barely above a whisper as I finished. Done, I stuck my head in between my legs and started crying again.  
Garrus said nothing. All he did was lean over and hug me, "I'm sorry you got caught up in all this." He said stroking my hair, while I moaned into his chest, "Both of you."  
"You don't think I'm crazy?" I looked up from his chest to look at him.  
"No." He looked down at me with loving eyes. Finally finding a safe spot I burrowed my head back into his chest, never wanting to leave.

* * *

**Again, it's short but I'm brownies for Yuri and Liege Lord! But over all, the Care About Kittens Evenly (CAKE) administration is very unhappy. We only saved two kittens! And I'm gonna take the rest of the week off to do the Liara mission.  
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**Yuri: Thanks! noted and fixed.  
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**Liege Lord: Two cyber brownies for being so loyal in reviewing! *sigh* I went and changed that for you.  
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**CAKE is still in! More kittens must be saved! And look! Amanda only ate half the brownies! If you hurry there might be more! Click the thing at the bottom and leave a reviews! An adorable kitten somewhere needs your help!  
**


	5. Finding Liara T'Soni

**Hi again! sorry it took so long to put this up I kinda lollygagged for a but there. he he he.**

* * *

"Ericka!" Lorrel shouted, even though half the crew was standing next to her, "She's on Therum!" she proudly exclaimed.

I sighed in relief. We had been searching for the matriarch's daughter for almost a week now, and most of us hadn't slept science we started searching in the Artemis Tau cluster, "Garrus, Wrex, hit the hay. Your coming with us tomorrow. The rest of you, dismissed!" The crew dispersed as I made the long trek to my room.

* * *

"Captain, we have reached Therum." Jokers voice blasted over the intercom waking me once again.

I sighed, getting up, "Wake Garrus, Wrex, and Lorrel if there not already up ant tell them to Get the heck up and get their butts over to the cargo bay."

As soon as our chosen crew made it to the Mako, we made a smooth (mostly) drop and started to make our way to Liara, but Joker had other plans, " Commander, I'm picking up some strange readings. Really strange. Like, off the dang charts. Looks like it's coming form an underground complex a few klicks away from the drop zone."

"On our way Joker." Lorrel started driving, while I had the turret/big-freakin-tankish-gun.

A ways up the trail we ran in to some of our "friends". I took out the geth there, and along the rest of the trail pretty smoothly, but we still had an army of geth to fight, "Hum. Landslide. We'll ave to abandon the tank form here on out."

We all nodded and got out, "Geth!" Garrus screamed as a patrol came along. We tock out the unit fairly easily, Wrex just charged in and made them all fall like bowling pins, easy targets for the rest of us.

"Well that was easy." I said, half confused.

Lorrel narrowed her eyes, "To easy."

Rounding the corner, we found out why "Spirits!" Garrus cursed, running behind cover.

There was our army. A few platoons of geth vs. the four of us. I winced, realizing I has stood out in the open to long, as a sniper shot grazed my arm. Rolling into cover I pulled out my sniper rifle, and shot at the one that hit me, "That's for making me mad," I shot at his companion in the tower, "And that's for shooting me."

Wrex, being reckless again, charges in, again, and lets us take care of our job. Quickly finishing the unit we made a run for the wall where the tower was based off of. Crouching, we fallowed the wall up the ramp. Reaching the top, Lorrel shot up and threw a biotic lift upon the geth waiting on the other side. With a quick glance up to we determined it was safe to move on.

Reaching the top of the ridge, I looked down at the geth corpses below me. A hole geth platoon. No combat experience. I let a small smirk cross my face. We're starting to get the hang of this. As we turned the corner we came across a small… complex?- with a mine near by, "That must be where Dr. T'Soni is." Lorrel commented, pointing to the mine.

"Come on then," I said jogging forward, "Whoa!" I gasped, tripping over a dormant geth stalker, "It's a trap!" I stood up and ran as fast as I could back into cover as the stalker quickly untangled it's self, and began hopping allover the place. Soon after the geth awoke, a drop ship appeared over head, "Crap!" I exclaimed, pulling out my sniper rifle as the drop ship unloaded a few geth and an armature, "Stay behind cover and focus on the other geth first," I yelled to the others as I popped out and took out a stalker mid-jump, "Then we can focus on the Armature!"

* * *

"Hello?" Liara's cry reached us as we stepped off the broken elevator, "Could somebody help me? Please?" we rushed down the fallen walkway to see her suspended in the Prothean trap, "Can you hear me out there? I am trapped. I need help!"

"Are you okay? What happened to you?" I quickly replied.

"Listen. This thing I am in is a Prothean security device. I can not move, so I need you to get me out of it. All right?"

We nodded and went down the ramp further, "A mining laser! That might get us some where!" Lorrel exclaimed pointing at the laser. Stepping closer she sighed and jestered for me to do my job. A combo lock. Great.

After several attempts I cracked the code, and the mining laser roared to life as a red beam shot out, " Yhea!" I whooped, proud of my work. The mining laser had tore threw the land in front of it, to a door, not unlike the others that we past, minus the barer curtain.

Walking a short ways, we came to an elevator that could take us up to the place where Liara was stuck, "How… how did you get in here? I didn't think there was any way past the barer!"

"That's not important right now," I stepped over to a control panel, "Now which one of these sets you free?"

"That one over there." there where a few beeps of the machine as I pressed the button, followed by the thud of Liara falling, "That elevator behind you," she said pointing in the lift that brought us up, "It should be able to get us up to the top." she raced over, the rest of us following.

A giant shake sent us all to the ground, "What the heck was that." Garrus said, eyes boring a hole into Liara.

"This ruin is unstable, whatever you did must have triggered a systemic event."

"Now you tell us." Lorrel groans.

"We have to hurry. The hole place is caving in!" she ignored Lorrel's comment, triggering the elevator. Reaching the top we got a surprise.

"Surrender," a krogan and a few geth where waiting for us up top, "Or don't. That would be more fun."

"What's wrong with you! The entire ruin's coming down on our heads!" I gritted my teeth as my hand moved for my pistol. Nice try, Lorrel, but there's only one way to get to a krogan.

Before the krogan had time to answer, I pulled my gun and hit him so he, almost literally, ate my bullet. Taking it as a signal, the others darted behind cover, "Garrus and I will focus on the rocket and shock troopers. Splash damage is the last thing we need. You two," I turned to Wrex and Lorrel, "focus on the others. And T'Soni? Stay down!"

Garrus and I made quick work of the geth, combining our tec powers to quickly disable the geth, then taking them out, while Wrex and Lorrel just charged in, obliterating the rest. Having finished the geth, we all sprinted for the exit, "Move! Move! Move!" I screamed pushing them ahead. No sooner had I got out of the mine, it collapsed, sending a plume of dust out the entrance.

I turned around to see the Normandy. Never was anyone as happy as I was to see the ship.

* * *

**again, sorry I lollygagged. its gonna end up something like this, though: mission, a few shorts and fluff, mission, fluff n' stuff...ext.**

**Leige Lord: agreed.  
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	6. Debriefed!

**Hello! Daily update in between missions. And I totally tricked out my profile! Check it out!**

**Short, only 405 words. T_T sigh...  
**

* * *

"Too close, Commander." Joker called over the comm as the crew settled down for a debriefing, "Ten more seconds and we would have been swimming in molten sulfur. The Normandy isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our scanners and melt our hull. Just for future reference."

"We almost died and your pilot is making jokes" Liara said disapprovingly.

"It's how he shows he cares." Lorrel shrugged

"Ah," Liara looked slightly confused, but changed her face quickly, "I still need to thank you for saving my life back there. I don't know what Saren would have done to me."

"You should go to the med bay and have Chockwas check you out." I said, noting how tired she looked, "The rest of you, dismissed!"

* * *

"We have received your report commander." the Asari counselor started.

"I assume your taking the necessary security measures Commander?" the turian spoke up.

"Liara's on our side. If you have a problem you can talk to her about it." Lorrel growled, pointing to the asari counselor.

"Benezia would never allow Saren to kill her daughter." the asari spoke.

"How do we know she's not a spy?" The turian argued.

"At lest the mission went well." I bickered back.

"Except from the utter destruction of a major Prothean ruin. Was that really necessary?"

"Woops." Lorrel smirked, turning the console off.

"LORREL!" I managed to yell before it disconnected.

"And we're off." Joker laughed.

* * *

**And fin. Its mostly Garrus fluff, tidbits, and coupon clippings in between missions, just whatever I feel like fits there!  
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**Dug: Oh, why?  
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**Liege Lord: *scratches back of head* yea, about that... Sorry I didn't consult you first before putting it up. I felt that it only had minor spelling mistakes and was, over all, pretty good.  
**

**CAKE is still unhappy! SAVE MORE KITTENS!  
**

**Reg is out, PEACE!  
**


	7. The State of Confusion

** Ah, fudge it. I posted a new chapter today already, but I wanted to post this to.**

* * *

**Flashback**

Jane?" my father, John, asked my mother, "I need to get my uniform on, so can you make sure the girls are in bed?"

"Sure." Our mother had just gotten home from her job at Fort Knox, and was just striping off her military uniform. Her stiff red hair fell down from the short ponytail that she liked to keep it back in, even though it wasn't required.

Our father, on the other hand, had short, dark…Brown hair? It was so short, you could see his head underneath. He took the night shift on post, so he was the one that fed us lunch and dinner, with a short nap in between.

Lorrel and I had always thought it ironic that our parents looked like the default Shepards from Mass Effect, even sounded kid of like them. Even more so with our names. Our last name was Shidarp(**shy**-d-**are**-p), which is almost Shepard spelled upside down. Shepard. Shidarp.

Our mom had caught dad by the door, almost outside. I strained my ears to hear what she said, "Will we ever tell them?" I could barely hear her voice, even though I strained my ears and they where in the hall next to our room.

"What will we tell them!" he scoffed.

"What about this." she searched around, knocking a few things over as she did so.

I quickly hid my drawing stuff and jumped over to Lorrel's bed, putting my hand over her mouth to silence her. She gave me a confused look, to which I simply pointed over to the hall, telling her to listen, and slowly removed my hand.

"Keep it down the girls will hear you!" dad had started panicking.

"Relax, I already checked, they're sound asleep." she lied. No, she hadn't checked, and she knows where I stand. I told her I was going to finish my drawing tonight, "Ah!" she exclaimed finding the object she was looking for.

"Our old armor? You kept it?"

"And your amp and pistol and my assault rifle, sniper rifle, and omi tool." Lorrel and I looked at each other, confused.

There was a short silence, " What about the Prothean box that Liara gave us if we needed to come back?" it took a moment for his words to sink in. Liara. Gave us. Prothean box. Those words don't go in a normal person sentence. Unless you talking about the game, then it's gives you, not gave us. Something is not right here…

* * *

**pat on the back for anyone that figures out who they are and their classes.  
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**CommanderHawke667: me to. me to.  
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**Prvt. Caboose: thanks and *sigh* I'll fix it*grumbles*  
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**Liege Lord: agreed. can you fix it. !  
**


	8. Damien

**Derp. I was an idot and uploaded this wrong. but now its fixed :D**

* * *

I slowly came to, I noticed that I was suspended in mid air in a completely black area. I struggled, trying to get out of my containment field, "Ah, ah, ah." a man with a voice, similar to that of TIM was in the shadows and looked at me with his glowing eyes, "don't you dare try struggle, I put to much work into getting you there,"

"Who the heck are you!" I snarled at him, reaching for my gun, and realized it wasn't there._ Crap!_ I thought, "Why am I here!"

He chuckled and stepped out of the shadows. He had the same look as TIM just… he looked younger, 18 maybe, but with the same eerily glowing eyes, hair, and build, "Ah, Shepard, I'm not here to hurt you, if that's what you were asking. I am really doing quite the opposite, in fact, I am here to help you."

"What?" anger built up inside of me, "First off don't call me Shepard, that's not my name, Shidarp is. Second, I have no clue why you're here, but I don't give crap bout' your missions so get away from me!"

He chuckled again, "Damien," he said as he started to fade away, "My name is Damien."

* * *

**again, derp.**


	9. Facepaint

**HEY PEEPS! I uploaded wrong, but I fixed it, so go back and read the chapter before this.**

I woke up drenched in sweat, quickly reaching to my nightstand to grab my pistol off if the top, "EDI, scan the extranet-" I quickly face palmed myself. _Idiot!_ I scolded myself; _EDI is on the Normandy SR-2, not 1!_

Sighing, I put down my pistol and put on my armor, walking around to see if anyone was up yet. I decided to go down to engineering first. _Jesus!_ I complained, stepping out of the elevator, _this is freakin' slow!_I walked over to the short hall when I saw the orange glow of an omni-tool and a purple visor. "Need a hand?" I asked walking over.

"Ah, Commander." Garrus said, turning to look at me instead of the Mako, "Good to see you."  
I laughed, "You don't have to call me that off record, Garrus. You know that." I turned to look over at his work, "Lorrel driving over mountains again?"

"Yeah," he said, rubbing his hand across his forehead. I tried to stop myself from laughing, I really did. But I couldn't help laughing when I saw the large black streak of oil across his forehead, "All right then, Susan, now you have to help me." He said, swiping his hand across my cheek.

"Hey!" I giggled, taking a little onto my fingertip and putting a smudge in between his eyes.

"Alright, now you're in for it!" He gave a playful roar, swiping at my other cheek, and putting a black mark on the ridge of my nose and a few on my forehead.

"My turn!" I pushed him away looking at his face. I put two lines on each of his cheeks, a little black goatee on his chin and feather like marks around the outer edges of his eyes. I must say I was proud of myself. I may be an artist, but I never excelled at finger painting, "Come on," we had just finished cleaning our hands off when I dragged Garrus to the elevator, "I want to show you what I did!"

* * *

**short, but cute.**

**and for all those who wonder, Lorrel will get a boyfriend/girlfriend *coughtraynorcough* so,you know.  
**

**Googlefloobs - I have an editor, I may not have gotten to update yet. yeah, sorry if it seems like that, but thats what I would do.I kinda lean towards the paragon side in real life, but I really wana blow something up. badly. so I may put something like that in for my own you and noted. By "Flame" I meant no "Go drink bleach b**h" reviews like on my last story. Sorry if that got miscommunicated, I just wanted to avoid that.  
**

**jab - none taken. I have a hard time finding female gamers at all, let alone Mass Effect. I was really lucky to find Raven R, who also plays Mass Effect. Lorrel is sposta be like Jack, but I'm doing a crapy job of it. it's a work in progress.  
**

**Liege Lord - Thanks...? I think.  
**

**Again, by "no flames plz" I meant no reviews telling me my story sucks and nothing to help my fix it, or "go drink bleach" stuff. Okay? glad I cleared that up.  
**


	10. Feros, Zhu's Hope, and the Old Growth

**Hello world! Read up, I kinda slacked off, so I didn't get that much in. T-T**

I splashed water on my face to wash off the oil from the night before. I put my hands to my face, remembering the beautiful crown with all the jewels that Garrus had painted on my face.

"Commander, we've reached Zhu's Hope."

"Yes, Joker, I'll be right up." I sighed, turning off the water and drying my face. I walked out of the cabin and saw Tali, Garrus, Ash, Kaidan, Wrex, and Liara were all sitting at the table sharing a breakfast; Liara and Kaidan talking about biotics, Wrex and Ash comparing stories, Garrus and Tali talking to each other with their omni-tools, "Wrex, Garrus, finish eating then suit up, Lorrel will want you two with us on Feros."

They nodded and continued their meal, while I headed up to the galaxy map where Lorrel was waiting, groaning slightly under her breath, "You okay?"  
"Yea. Just gave myself food poisoning!" she hissed, gripping the rail so hard her knuckles turned white, "I tried to cook again."  
"Lorrel," I sighed, "you know you can't cook. Go down to Chakwas."  
She look at me with shear frustration, "I am not sitting out." she growled, turning to look at me.  
"Listen, if you sit this one out, I'll sit the next one out." Lorrel sighed, giving in, "let me help you-"  
"I can take care of myself." Lorrel snapped, as she began limping to the med bay.  
"Tell Wrex he's out and Tali she's in while you're down there." I called after her.  
"Yea, yea, yea." she waved her hand dismissively as she disappeared behind the door.

* * *

"Equalizing interior pressure with exterior atmosphere." I mimicked in a high pitched, mocking tone as Tali, Garrus and I left the Normandy, "God I hate that thing."  
I never liked Feros. The air seemed musty (true) and dirty (true), almost like the air was too thick to breathe (and what do you know, true!). From the beginning I had had a bad feeling about this place. And to this very day I still have nightmares about the Thorian Creepers that reside here.  
"Hey! Commander Shepard, over here!" A male voice from a ways down the path woke me from my thoughts. As we rushed over he spoke again, "We saw your ship. Fai Dan wants to talk to you immediately. The geth are making another push. Please, up the stairs and past the freighter." He gestured behind himself. I nodded and jogged past him, except…  
"Geth!" Tali screeched a high pitched cry as she ducked behind cover, grabbing her shotgun from her back. I ran for cover, but the shrapnel from a shock troopers' carnage still hit close enough to burn my arm. I hissed in pain and quickly lost my temper.  
I ran forward and punched through two geth's softer neck plating, grabbing some wire on the way out and putting the wires together, cutting through the next geth with my make-shift taser then, coming to an the last idiot geth in the room, I swung around the small piece of wall the geth was behind I grabbed its neck and spun my pistol around my finger, putting the barrel of the gun up to its stupid flashlight of a head I said, "You won't need your flashlight head in hell." And pulled the trigger.

* * *

I could still feel Tali's shocked gaze on me as we entered Zhu's Hope and went to talk to Fai Dan, "Oh, Commander. I'm glad they finally sent someone to help us."  
"You're a bit late aren't you." The woman next to him snarled.  
"Arcelia!" he scolded her, "Sorry, everyone's on edge since-" geth chatter cut him off  
"Watch out!" Arcelia yelled, pulling out an assault rifle and firing upon the nearest geth.  
"Go, woman hulk!" Garrus yelled.  
"What did you just call me!" I turned and snarled at him, still a bit mad from our first Feros geth encounter.  
"Nothing, just go!"  
I fell down to a position that a cat might be in and smirked, "Gladly." I pounced in between a few geth ripping out the geth's wired throats, and moving to what would seem like a punch to a geth's stomach to anyone I grazed my hand across, instead flipping my hand around and grabbing the geth by the waist and throwing it at the others on the level, effectively disabling them all. A shot bounced off my shields, directing my attention to the geth upstairs. I quickly overloaded their shields as I pulled out my trusty pistol, shooting any that remained standing.  
"Leave some for the rest of us!" Garrus yelled as he and Tali scrambled over.  
Walking into the next room, I resisted all of my urges to rush in and put a few geth down, letting Tali hack the geth destroyer in the room, who caused a ton of damage and killed most of the geth in the room except a sniper which Garrus quickly took care of, while Tali and I took care of the destroyer. Once the geth had been cleared out, a geth ship overhead flew off to who-knows-where.

* * *

"I'm so sorry," A traumatized Lizbeth spoke after she had cursed herself for shooting at us, "I thought you were geth, or one of those varren."

"It's all right. You stay here till I can get the energy barrier down that the geth put up."

She nodded, "Take my ID, it should get you past any locked doors." I nodded and walked over to the door, up a level, where we found a krogan battle master arguing with a VI.

"Stupid machine! Access encrypted files! No, I don't want to review protocol!"

"I am unable to comply. Please contact your supervisor."

"Dang it! Tell me what I want or I'll blow your virtual butt into actual dust!"

"Please contact your supervisor for level 4 security encryption or make an appointment with-"

"Stupid machine!"

"If there is nothing else, please step aside. There is a queue forming behind you for use of this console." By this time we were directly behind the Krogan. I had to make him understand that we were there and there was nothing I could do about it, the only way Krogan understand things.

I head butted him.

* * *

"What was that…thing?" Garrus said, looking horrified.  
"Thorian creeper," I growled, remembering the horrid things, "be careful. If it's green with claws, shoot. If it shoots back, leave them to me. Got it?" They nodded, and we headed inside for the long battle ahead.

* * *

"Alright," Tali said as we stepped into the main room of the Thorian, "We just need to find this thing and determine what it… what it…Keelah, what is that?" We all looked up at the monster in a fearful awe.

"Well, that's just great." I angrily mutter, stepping forward and muttering some more about stupid Saren, with his stupid geth, and the stupid fatty before me called a Thorian and his creepers, which were scattered all around us.

We all watch as the Thorian spits out a green asari clone, "Invaders! Your every step is a transgression. The thousand feelers appraise you as meat, good only to dig or decompose. I speak for the Old Growth, as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands you to be in awe."

"I need what you gave Saren."

"Saren, sought knowledge of those who are gone. The Old Growth listened to flesh for the first time in the Long Cycle. Trades were made. Then cold ones began killing the flesh that would tend the next cycle. Flesh fairly given! The Old Growth sees the air you push as lies! It will listen no more!"

"I'm against Saren, not with him!"

"No more will the Thorian listen to those that scurry. Your lives are short, but have gone on too long. Your blood will feed the ground and the new growth!" She pulled a gun but I punched her in the stomach mid-pull and in her moment of hesitation, I swung around and broke her neck.

"Here's the plan!" I yelled, pulling out my pistol and shooting a rising creeper behind Tali, "Tali, you've got point. Focus on the Creepers in the front. Garrus, keep them off our tail. Only when you're absolutely positive there's nothing behind us do you turn around and help me with the nodes. Got it?" We both nodded and pulled up to the first node, shooting everything that moved that wasn't one of us.

The Thorian gave out a cry as the first node exploded, spitting out another clone in anger, "That did something!" Garrus whooped.

"A few more of these and it's down." Tali agreed.

We flew through the nodes with ease, while the cries of the Thorian became more, and more desperate. All was fine… till the last node.  
"Tali!" I screamed as a creeper threw up acid all over Tali, causing her to fall limp furiously trying to wipe the gunk off her mask. Garrus had been distracted by my cry and a creeper snuck up on him and spit acid all over his unprotected face, "Garrus!" Now infuriated, I grabbed the two creepers and smashed their heads ageist each other and threw a grenade at the remaining node, helping Tali to her feet and picking Garrus up, Leading them to safety while we waited for the grenade to explode.  
By the time we had gotten enough of the Creeper goo off Tali's mask for her to see, the Thorian gave a mighty cry as its arms started detaching, and then finally falling to the ground and shattering into a million pieces. An asari, one that looked like the clones fell to the ground and come over to us, "I'm free. I'm free! I- I suppose I should thank you for releasing me."  
At this point Garrus had gotten up and was walking around. It made me feel relieved, even though he was definitely hurt, "Are you alright?"  
"I am fine. Or I will be, in time. My name is Shiala. I serve- I served Matriarch Benezia. When she allied herself with Saren, so did I. Benezia foresaw the influence Saren would have. She joined him to guide him down a gentler path. But Saren is compelling. Benezia lost her way."  
"What do you mean?"  
"Benezia underestimated Saren. As did I. We came to believe his cause and his goals. The strength of his influence is troubling."  
"She tried to manipulate Saren. But in the end, her plan backfired." Tali spoke up.  
"Saren has a vessel. A warship unlike anything I have ever seen. He calls it Sovereign. It can dominate the minds of his followers. They become indoctrinated to Saren's will. The process is subtle. It can take days, weeks. But in the end, it is absolute. I was a willing slave when Saren brought me to this world. He needed my biotics to communicate with the Thorian, to learn its secrets. Saren offered me in trade. I was sacrificed to secure an alliance between Saren and the Thorian."  
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Saren sacrificed you, for an alliance with a fat plant?"  
"Yes, he needed the Cipher."  
"The what now?"  
"The beacon on Eden Prime gave you visions. But the visions are unclear, confusing. They were meant for a Prothean mind. To truly comprehend them, you must think like a Prothean. You must understand their culture, their history, their very existence. The Thorian was here long before the Protheans built this city. It watched and studied them. When they died, it consumed them. They became a part of it."  
"So the Cipher is the history of the Protheans?"  
"The cipher is the very essence of being a Prothean. It cannot be described or explained. It would be like describing color to an animal without eyes. To understand, you must have access to exceptional ancestral memory. A view point stretching thousands of Prothean generations. I sensed this ancestral memory - the Cipher - when I melded with the Thorian. Our identities merged, our minds intertwined. Such knowledge cannot be taught; it simply exists."  
"We-" I stopped, remembering Lorrel wasn't here, "I need that information."  
"There is a way," the asari suddenly looked almost shy, "I can transfer the knowledge from my mind to yours, as I did for Saren. Try to relax, Commander. Slow, deep breaths. Let go of you physical shell. Reach out to grab the threads that bind us, one to another. Every action sends ripples across the galaxy. Every Idea must touch a mind to live. Every motion must mark another's spirit. We are all connected. Every being united in a single, glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe, Commander. Embrace eternity!"  
I opened my eyes after the link of data, most of which I already knew, as she kicked me out of my mind, planted the data, and jumped back out, letting me back in and the images fill my mind, "I have given you the Cipher, just as it was given to Saren. The ancestral memories of the Protheans are a part of you now." The asari spoke.  
"What was that?" Tali asked, "Shepard are you alright?"  
"I'm fine Tali." I exhaled, "just a …new… feeling."  
"You have been given a great gift: the experience of an entire people." Shiala spoke again, "It will take time for your mind to process this information."  
"I already have. I know what was in the beacon, or part of it." I said, somehow managing to think back to the first game, "It was a warning of some sort. But the beacon on Eden Prime was damaged, so it must have not had the full story."  
"I am… impressed. Most cannot comprehend things like this for a week or a month. Some not in a year. You are a very capable woman, Shepard. Now, if you allow it, I will tend to the colonists. They have suffered greatly. I would like to make amends."  
"Sounds good to me. We need to get our friend back to the ship. Good bye, Shiala."

* * *

**yes I skipped a ton of battle sections,yes its because I'm lazy and suck at putting battle scenes,so review if you want more!**

**CommanderHawke667 -agreed. what if he was like "Well if Shep goes gay, maybe I should try!" and next thing you know he's sleeping with Cortez. lol :3  
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**Liege Lord -thx.  
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**if anyone has a prob with anything, let me know by clicking the blue thing down there, plz!  
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	11. A Talk With Tali

**woah! sorry bout the long wait folks! I've been into the fourms a lot and have been getting distracted. I put this all together today,so I'm sorry it's short.**

* * *

After dropping Garrus off at the mad-bay, then being forced out, I decided to visit Tali, make sure she was okay.

She wasn't too hard to find, she was in the main room, a green stained rag in her hand, Ashley giving her strange looks from where she had pushed her computer into the corner. I glared at Ash as I walked over to my locker and pulled out my armor and a rag, sitting down on the floor next to Tali.

By the time I had finished getting the gunk off my armor, Tali was still slowly scrubbing her wrist with the rag. I gave her a look of sympathy, I couldn't tell her face behind the mask, but I knew body language well enough, "Hey," I said, gently grading her wrist, "what's wrong?"

She jumped a little at my touch, "Oh, Shepard. Nothing, just…"

"Just what, Tali?"

"Just, I feel guilty for what happened to Garrus. I should have turned around and shot the dang thing!" she cursed.

"Tali…" I moved my hand to her shoulder, "Look, if your going to blame anyone, it's me. You where under orders from me to focus in front of us, if you had turned around, we all would have been goners. But the real one to blame is Saren. He provoked that… thing- into acting that way towards us, he's what we're after. But in a way, you can thank him too"

"Oh I have the perfect gift!" she waved her hands around sarcastically "I bought it for him as soon as I found out that that he was working with the very things that exiled my people out of their home world!"

Okay, I admit I laughed there, "No, Tali. You can thank him for making it so we could work together. If I hadn't been investigating him, and you didn't have information about him, we never would have met. And for one, I'm glad we did." I had put my armor away, but knelt down again with my rag, "Now, do you need some help with that armor of yours?"

* * *

**hehehe, I am _extremely_ cheasey.**  
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****CommanderHawke677-I still think the sleeping with Cortez thing is funny...  
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**Liege Lord- I 3 ~s (and Garrus)  
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**Guest- ... was that a sarcastic thx? Nice to know people still read my stuff even if I'm not posting as often as normal ^_^  
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**NOTE! FOR PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT READ THE CHAPTER ABOUT DAMIEN, GO READ IT NOW! HE WILL BE IMPORTANT LATER ON! IT IS THE NEW CHAPTER 8!  
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**R&R!  
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	12. Idodic Me

**Hi guys, What's this, to updates in one week O_O OMG! XD**

* * *

One day. That was when Chockwas said Garrus would be out of med bay, so I figured I might as well get some sleep. And I was before my head hit the pillow.

I came to in a pitch black room, "fudge."

"Welcome back, Susan."

I stood up _no restraints._ I glared at Damien, "What do you want."

"Like I said, I want to help you and your sister."

"Why not go fudge up her dreams then."

He took the cigar out of his mouth, "Because she's not _you ._ I need someone patent, Lorrel's method is to charge and shoot the first thing she sees. You? Your patent, smart. You'll need those qualities to figure out you families past, and to change your own destiny."

"What are you talking about?" I tilted my head, "I know my family's past. Dad never had parents, he grew up in the slums of New York, fending for himself. When he was old enough he joined the military. Once he said he got captured and torched!" my eyes sparkled as I remembered the tale, "Mom grew up in the county, but decided it was to boring for her and joined the military. As a sniper, she ended up saving her entire platoon by warning them of an oncoming attack."

Damien puffed out smoke, "Convincing lies." He started to fade away, "Think about their pasts and their conversation. You will need to find out their past to fix your destiny."

I woke back in my room and thought about what Damien said. Being the dummy I am, it took me an hour before I priced it all together and shot up in bed, _holy crap! Mom and Dad are the real Shepards!_

* * *

**Yeah..****. I can be kinda slow.**


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